TV

Jeopardy! recap for Wed., Jan. 18

Let’s meet today’s contestants:

  • Alec, a real estate analyst, had graduations at Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden;
  • Erin, a high school English teacher, met Jane Goodall on a restroom search; and
  • Vince, a risk manager, has “a broad variety of talents”. Vince is a one-day champ with winnings of $13,000.

Jeopardy!

THE 1890s // WOMEN OF SCIENCE // A COLLEGE / TOWN // SONGS OF THE 2010s // SAME FIRST & LAST LETTER // SIX PACK

DD1 – $1,000 – THE 1890s – Returning after a 1,500-year break, these opened April 6, 1896 (Erin doubled to $7,200.)

Scores at first break: Vince $3,000, Erin $2,200, Alec -$800.

Scores going into DJ: Vince $3,800, Erin $9,400, Alec $400.

Double Jeopardy!

KNOW YOUR BOUNDRIES // BLANK VERSE // LONG-SERVING POLITICIANS // NEWSPAPER NAMES // ELEMENTAL RESPONSES // MOVIES THAT MATTER

DD2 – $2,000 – ELEMENTAL RESPONSES – Ferns, amphibians and early reptiles thrived during this geological period from about 360 to 300 million years ago (Vince dropped to $0 after betting $4,600 vs. $11,400 for Erin.)

DD3 – $1,600 – NEWSPAPER NAMES – Samuel Morse could have used his code to signal the name of this British daily founded in 1855 (Vince nearly doubled up, improving to $12,799 vs. $21,000 for Erin.)

Erin had a big lead after Vince missed DD2, but she repeatedly chose top-row clues while DD3 was still available, and Vince eventually found it to get back in the running at $15,599 vs. $21,000 for Erin. Alec never got rolling and finished at -$2,000.

Final Jeopardy!

EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY – In 1692 Increase Mather wrote, “It were better that ten suspected” these “escape, than that one innocent person … be condemned”

Both players were correct on FJ. Erin added $10,201 to win with $31,201.

Final scores: Vince $21,001, Erin $31,201, Alec -$2,000.

Odds and ends

Triple Stumper of the day: No one knew the colorful California governor who served two terms starting in 1975 and two more beginning in 2011, Jerry Brown.

FJ wagering strategy: By betting $5,402, with a correct response, Vince was forcing Erin to be correct with a wager of at least $2 to beat him. However, the chances were far greater that Erin would make the standard cover bet, so the percentage play for Vince would have been to make a tiny wager and hope for Erin to miss. With this strategy, Vince could win without having to be correct on FJ himself.

Correct Qs: DD1 – What are the Olympic Games? DD2 – What is the Carboniferous Period? DD3 – What is the Telegraph? FJ – What are witches?